The Case of the Missing Candy Canes
by Jan-AQ
Summary: For Potions and Snitches this holiday season. One shot, completed. Harry is stuck at Hogwarts during the winter holidays, and notices that something has been disappearing. He decides to investigate. Last edited Aug 2007.


Title: The Case of the Missing Candy Canes  
Author: Jan AQ aka Padawan Jan  
Rating: PG  
Condition: Completed, one-shot

A/N: Hello everyone! In honor of the holidays I wanted to write something festive and happy for Potions and Snitches. This is a just a fun one-shot, completed, of moderate size. I came up with the idea while talking Molly. :) Its genres would probably be general and humor, maybe mystery and adventure. Beta'd by me. I hope that you like it!

Last Edited: August 2007

----

Harry walked into the Great Hall with a grin of amazement. This year Flitwick, the house elves, and Hagrid had really outdone themselves. It was a winter wonderland, large crystal snow hung suspended over head, and the trees were dressed bright and festively.

But there was something else about the trees that made this year's Christmas scene so nice: The ornaments were all made of sweets. Sparkling gumdrops, candy canes, and hard candies of every colour practically dripped off of the trees while shiny glazed cherries, peppermint patties, peppermint sticks, smiling gingerbread children, yoghurt pretzels, large candy apples, chocolate figurines, marshmallow snowmen, _and_ red licorice elves sat along the branches like prizes!

It was every child's dream.

There was even a large candy train traveling overhead through the hall, made completely of sweets. Its candy sides glistened against the morning light, while wheels that looked like they came from huge swirled lollipops carried it along a floating railroad made of multicoloured sticks. There was a conductor standing up near the engine, looking like he had been fashioned from a stack of biscuits. Bubbles came out of the front engine, and if Harry had had to make a wager he would have said that they were sweetly edible too. The cars that the train pulled were either closed, or shaped like little boxes, filled with different types of sweets. Harry thought that the coal car was filled with gummy bears, but he wasn't able to tell for sure before the train rolled away and he wasn't able to see into the coal cart from his vantage point.

"Wow!" Harry heard behind him, and he turned, grinning to see Ron standing there with his mouth wide open.

"They just put them up and they look edible!" Harry informed him.

"Oh mate, I tell you, the one year they have something fantastic in here and I won't be able to stay," Ron moaned.

Harry's grin fell at this reminder, but he tried to keep smiling good naturedly. It was hard. Everyone, it seemed, was going home for Christmas while he was stuck here at the castle.

Alone.

"Oi, don't look so sad, Harry. You'll be able to eat all these sweets safely! I think the twins have it in for me, I won't be able to _touch_ a sweet while I'm home," Ron said as he wandered over to the nearest tree as if hypnotized.

Smiling ruefully, Harry followed, and could now make out some other sweets had had missed on the tree. Hundreds of little miniature icicles hung from underneath the branches. There were little heart wreaths made out of Red Hots, caramel and chocolate covered nuts done in elaborate knots and twisted into sticks, and tiny iced angel biscuits. All were discovered gleefully. There were even lollies among the laden down. Close up, the chocolate figurines turned out to be Santas, and reindeer, and soldiers with elaborate icing faces and uniforms.

Ron reached out and nicked a chocolate from off the tree. Careful of the hanger, he popped it into his mouth and chewed.

"Well?" Harry asked. They had gotten more relaxed about food now that the twins were gone, but they were still careful from force of habit.

Ron swallowed. "Edible and tastes good…" He looked over himself. "Seems hex free." Ron helped himself to a marshmallow snowman next, and Harry followed suit, snatching up a chocolate peppermint. He unwrapped it, and placed it in his mouth. It tasted wonderful, the best peppermint he had ever had!

But that wasn't saying much as Harry could only remember one other time he'd had one. He helped himself to a second.

"Better get some to take on the trip back," Ron said around the bottom of a snowman, swallowing. "The ride's soo long, and it goes on forever, and mum always wants to wait until _everything's_ put away before we eat. Half the time, I feel as if I'll expire before she's good and ready," Ron complained as he reached out a grabbed a few more choice sweets, and started to stuff them into his pockets. "We're growing boys you know, food should come first!"

Harry nodded knowledgably. The fact that his mouth was too full of peppermint chocolate saved him from coming up with something to say.

"Ronald Weasley!" They were startled to see Hermione behind them with her trunk already bundled up in her cloak, hat and scarf. "Just what do you think you are doing?" she scolded.

"What? This?" Ron asked as he stuffed some gumdrops in his pockets.

"Yes that! Why are you stealing candy off of the trees?" she asked, highly affronted.

"What are you talking about Hermione?" Ron asked, aghast. "We're not stealing anything! This is a school full of _children_, they wouldn't have put all this on the trees unless they wanted us to take some," he explained.

From where Harry stood licking a candy cane, he had to agree. No one in their right minds would _ever_ place candy decorations in Hogwarts, unless they intended them to be eaten. The display here was _begging_ to be devoured, why else would they put such a thing up?

"Besides, everyone else is doing it too." Ron mentioned, casually waving to a tree across the hall where a group of second years were helping themselves.

"If everyone jumped off of their brooms would you jump too?" Hermione demanded.

"Depends. Is Harry jumping?" Ron asked. Even though he knew that Ron was joking around, Harry still felt a twist of appreciation and fear at the thought that his friend would consider it, even in fun.

Hermione winced before taking up her lecturing tone again, "Ron, you're supposed to say no." Her face then turned into the one that warned them to be wary of some new rule, or proposition about the equality of less appreciated creatures. Harry gave an inward groan at what would surely be coming next. "Honestly, you two, you're supposed to be the ones leading by example!" she started. "I'm sure that Professor Flitwick and the house elves spent a great deal of effort working on these decorations, and now you two are messing it up! They'll probably have to spend hours redoing it and fixing it so that it'll look the way it was-!"

"Aw, come off it, Hermione! It's not like anyone'll notice a few pieces of candy missing!"

"Yes they will! House elves notice everything, and there's a big gap now on that tree almost the size of your head. I bet somewhere, some poor house elves are bashing themselves over the head with kettles, all because you messed up the tree!" Hermione said, worked up.

"Alright, alright already, if it would make you feel better then I'll rearrange it so that no one can tell." Ron said.

"Aurgh!" Hermione said, throwing her hands up in exasperation. She grabbed her trunk and stomped off towards the second years across the hall. No doubt she hoped to have more success with them.

"Women," Ron said rolling his eyes, and aborting his motions to make the tree look more equal once she was out of eyesight. "You can hardly tell that I've taken anything."

They stayed there for a couple more minutes before a load of students came by and started to swarm the room.

"Students!" McGonagall's outraged voice reverberated with a Sonorus spell throughout the Great Hall and the entrance area before it. "You should all be making your way down to the platform now. The Hogwarts Express will be leaving in ten minutes!"

There was a scramble for bags, and cloaks, and scarves, and a scant few students grabbed last minute treats off the trees.

Ron got up, and grabbed his trunk from near the entrance. "I'd better go find Hermione. Hopefully she's cooled off by now."

Harry didn't think so, but refrained from saying it. "Just don't eat those sweets in front of her," he advised.

"Good idea," Ron said as he donned his cloak, then clumsily wrapped a scarf around his neck. "See you after the hols."

"After the hols," Harry repeated and they gave each other a friendly, but manly, handshake goodbye.

The hall cleared out quickly, everyone excited to be going home to spend the holidays with their families.

After the last grinning Hufflepuff had gone through the Great Hall's doors, Harry was left all alone. The reverberating sounds of laughter and footsteps faded into silence. It was so strange, Hogwarts being quiet during the day. He had gone through the silent halls often enough at night, but the complete silence now, when the sun was shining brightly, lighting the tables with golden streams, it seemed wrong. Hogwarts was always noisy and alive during the day.

Harry got up and walked over to the tree where he and Ron had been nicking sweets. They'd be back soon, he told himself and took a marshmallow snowman off the tree.

----

The Gryffindor Tower felt so empty now that everyone was gone. Harry found himself walking around the school, or sitting in the Great Hall most of the time. It was warm in the Great Hall, it had food, and most importantly, people visited. The long tables had been cleared out, and now one single long table was left, covered in a red table cloth. Harry often amused himself there playing Wizard's chess against himself, reading a book, watching the candy train above on its ever changing track, and doodling while he sucked on sweets from the surrounding trees.

It was interesting to see how when the students were gone the teachers started coming out of the woodwork.

They all seemed to visit the Great Hall more frequently, often sitting in the purple armchairs around the fireplace, or at the table to talk to each other.

Even Snape, who didn't seem to want to get involved in conversation, lurked around more.

Professor Sprout was often seen in the afternoons knitting… something. Harry thought it was a hat, but he wasn't sure, perhaps it was a sleeve to a jumper?

Dumbledore started to have morning hot chocolate everyday at eleven o'clock in front of the large fireplace in the Great Hall. Often he'd have afternoon or evening hot chocolate there too. Harry sometimes watched him unobtrusively from his seat at table. Dumbledore would conjure himself a large purple armchair, and sit before the large fireplace, seemingly contemplating the red troll sized stockings hanging up over it as he sipped his hot drink. Sometimes a teacher would join him, usually Madame Pomfrey, Flitwick or Hagrid. Even Snape had enjoyed a cup of hot cocoa with the Headmaster once, and Dumbledore hadn't seemed to mind that Snape seemed as if he were barely tolerating the social nicety.

Binns came up through the floor one morning, lecturing about the history of the Great Hall to himself, and Harry listened for awhile, having nothing better to do.

It was so odd to see his teachers act more human, especially one afternoon when Dumbledore brought a desk of cards to the table, and challenged Harry and the present staff to a game of Go Fish. It had gone on for six rounds, finally ending in a draw between Madame Hooch and Professor McGonagall who both won twice.

The most memorable evening, however, was when Hagrid challenged Firenze to a nutmeg drinking challenge. Harry was pretty sure that the drinks hadn't been mostly nutmeg... he had heard some of the most interesting songs that night, and had been ushered out as soon as McGonagall had come in and noticed that he was there.

The only teacher not seen around the Great Hall was the current Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, who was recuperating after being attacked, and stung by Glumbumbles during a failed demonstration to the Fifth years. Harry heard that he was getting daily cheering charms, and doing better, but Harry was secretly pleased that the man was out for awhile as he was barely more competent than Lockhart.

As a child, Harry had never had reason to have very many sweets, so he took the opportunities the Christmas trees afforded him, and happily indulged. He was particularly fond of the peppermint chocolates, and the candy canes.

It was while Harry was sucking on one end of a red and white candy cane, and contemplating if he should move the rook or his King, that Dumbledore approached him.

"Harry a moment if you please."

"Sure, Professor Dumbledore," Harry replied as he sat up straight, wondering whether to get up in case he was to follow the Headmaster somewhere. The decision was taken out of his hands when Dumbledore sat gently next to him. Seeing his serious face, Harry felt a wave of apprehension at what he had to tell him.

"Harry, please stop taking sweets off of the Christmas trees. Professor Flitwick is starting to become distressed at the bare patches. He hadn't meant for the decorations to be eaten," Dumbledore said.

Well he certainly hadn't been expecting that! He was torn between relief that it wasn't something about Death Eaters attacking his friends, and guilt that it was about stealing candy off of the Christmas tree. Harry was sure his face must have looked atrocious as a mix between the two.

"Ah, okay," he ventured. He guilty thought back to the great number of sweets that he had filched off of the trees, and of the large loot he currently had in his room.

"That's a good lad, thank you Harry," Dumbledore said and stood up. "I believe that you should move your rook next."

"Thank you," Harry mumbled out. He was sure his face was a light shade of red, because he could feel the blood rushing up. He felt incredibly delinquent. It took awhile for the guilt to go down- how should he have known that the sweets on the trees weren't supposed to be eaten? He and Ron had been so sure that they could eat them! Why would someone put candy on a tree if they didn't want it to be taken?

Now in a bad mood, Harry left his chess set on the table. Maybe if he put some of the sweets back he wouldn't feel so bad.

-----

"Harry, I thought that you had agreed to cease dismantling the Christmas trees."

It was almost two days later, and Harry had definitely _not_ been nicking sweets off of the trees. In fact, he had even replaced some. Yet now Dumbledore stopped by for a little chat, perhaps to reprimand him for doing something he hadn't done.

"What? I haven't been," Harry said, puzzled.

Dumbledore's grey eyes peered down pointedly at the half eaten candy cane that Harry held in one hand.

"What?" Harry asked defensively, "This was part of a Christmas present." Luna had placed it in a glove that she had given him as part of her gift before she left for the Hols. It had no way come from the tree... at least he didn't think so.

"Harry," Dumbledore began, not unkindly, "The trees are showing a remarkable decrease of their dressings, the candy canes in particular."

"Well it wasn't me!" Harry exclaimed.

"If you say so. Just make sure that it stays that way, please," Dumbledore said, then shifted away, supposedly to sit in his purple armchair.

Harry furrowed his brow. He hadn't been taking candy off the trees since Dumbledore asked him not to. Yet the Headmaster thought that it had been him. Oh that hurt. He refused to be blamed for something that he hadn't done. He had enough of that growing up!

Looking at the Christmas trees, Harry realized that yes, they were looking a bit bare in places. And yes, the candy canes _did_ look much thinner then they had earlier in the week.

Determinedly, Harry decided to find out who, exactly, had been stealing the candy from off the trees.

He started to watch the teachers more closely. They were the only ones here, after all, unless it had been the House Elves stealing the candy, which he surely doubted.

Harry started noticing where the teachers went in the Great Hall, which ones seemed to look at the trees a _bit_ too closely, and which ones seemed to have pockets or spaces where sweets could be easily concealed without one being the wiser. He began wondering which of his teachers the candy cane thief was.

McGonagall? No she didn't seem the type to horde candy canes… Sprout? Well she might want them, but he didn't think that she would do something so dishonest as to steal buckets of candy off of trees in the Great Hall, especially when she could just buy them in Hogsmeade.

He studied the other teachers, weighing them in his mind with what he thought a candy cane thief might be like.

It couldn't have been Flitwick, or Dumbledore. Flitwick was apparently distressed at the divested branches. Now that Harry started to look, he noticed the small Charms Professor gazing a little too longingly at a tree, a slight pained expression at the obvious holes the missing decorations left. Flitwick would once in awhile rearrange the sweets left when he thought no one was looking, trying to make the trees seem more evenly decorated. Harry felt a new pang of guilt at the thought of all the peppermint patties that he had devoured without care.

It was Madame Hooch who he first caught stealing a sweet from the tree. Harry was trying to appear absorbed in some doodling when she got up, and strolled casually to a tree at the front of the hall. Harry followed her movements out of the corner of his eye, and was shocked when she reached out to pluck a chocolate reindeer off of the tree, and popped it into her mouth! So _she_ was the one who had been stealing all of the candy! But Harry's eminent outburst was halted when Hooch reached out, plucked a gingerbread child off of the tree and… tossed it to Professor Sinistra! Professor Sinistra caught it and bit the cookie child's head off. Harry felt his mouth open in surprise, and he tried to cover by turning his head closer to the parchment he was 'doodling' on. Two culprits!

As much as he longed to jump up and find Dumbledore to tell him that Hooch and Sinistra were the ones stealing the sweets, not him, he knew that he needed proof. He had to catch them red handed with a camera or something, preferably with a candy cane because that was what was missing most.

Harry watched them constantly, an enchanted picture frame (a gift from Ginny) ready, and waiting to capture the image he would lift it up to. As if sensing his intention, the two witches never once wandered back to the tree. Irritated, Harry wished that they would just take a candy cane already so that he could take a picture and be done with it.

The two witches finally left after lunch, not having taken another thing. Harry was left in the Great Hall, refusing to move in case they came back and stole candy canes while he was away. He was feeling rather uncomfortable because he had to use the loo, and he hoped that they would hurry up and come back.

Not willing to hold it any longer, Harry gave in and got up to leave the hall when he noticed McGonagall in the far corner near one of the Christmas trees. She was... no. It couldn't be! Prim Professor McGonagall was stealing a peppermint patty off of the tree! Harry rubbed his eyes under his glasses to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but McGonagall was still there, now tucking an empty wrapper under one sleeve as she popped something into her mouth. She walked away from the tree, her face a little more relaxed than usual. She was no doubt enjoying the treat. Feeling affronted as the peppermint patties had been _his_ personal favourite, and also amused that it seemed that most of the teachers, well the women so far, had been stealing sweets, Harry finally got up and left for the loo. He'd figure this out later.

Later found Harry sitting at the table, this time in a different spot than he usually sat, trying to watch everything around him without appearing to be watchful.

So far McGonagall had gotten up and nicked another peppermint patty while pretending to straighten her stocking, and the librarian Madame Pince had looked around almost comically before snatching some little chocolate Santas and reindeer, practically running from the scene of her crime. She would no doubt go back to the school library to consume the treats (which really was unfair as she had chased he and Ginny away with books when they tried to eat in the library).

Firenze had walked past and plucked a candy apple off of the tree, which he ate with great relish as the only person in the Great Hall at the time had been Harry (who had been playing a noisy game of chess).

Filch had loudly complained that some hard candies were cracked, and promptly consumed them for being defective, and Professor Vector had stolen, and enjoyed a total of two red licorice elves.

Snape was still lurking around annoyingly, rather like an overgrown bat popping up over and over again in all the oddest of times. He would be there, and then he would leave, then he'd come back, leave again… Snape was so weird. What was he doing, checking up on Harry? Trying to be bothersome to the other teachers?

The shock of the day had come when Flitwick had gone to rearrange the sweets on a tree. Instead of his usual wand wave, he plucked some small gumdrops off of the tree and ate them. It seemed that the trees weren't even safe from their creator, and now Harry was back to square one. Any of the teachers could be the one at fault, and actually all of them were in some way. Except for maybe Dumbledore. And Harry still thought that even if Flitwick _were_ eating his own trees, he wasn't the big candy cane thief.

But Snape… a hunch started to grow in Harry's gut. Did Snape seem the type to like candy canes? He certainly was acting suspicious, what with all the entering, and exiting, and lurking in his black robes. Just what was Snape up to?

Harry decided to figure it out. He wasn't getting anywhere with sitting in the Great Hall trying to catch the candy cane thief, and Snape was acting too strange to ignore.

Harry started watching Snape closely, determined to start noticing when he came, and when he left, and what he was up to when he was here.

It was frustrating. Snape never seemed to really _do_ anything. He would come to eat a meal, or come just to lurk, or have a conversation, perhaps give some insults and sneers before turning in a flourish of robes and stalking out of the hall.

Harry knew that Snape was aware that he was watching him. Snape's black eyes would glance over the hall, and upon seeing Harry looking at him, he would move away, or leave, or start another conversation before looking around again. Spotting Harry once more, Snape would move again.

Not getting anywhere, Harry had no choice but to step this investigation up. He went to see the house elves.

"Dobby," Harry asked the over excited house elf as he cleaved to Harry's legs in the school kitchens, "Have you or the house elves noticed anything weird going on?"

"Oh, Master Harry Potter sir, Dobby and the other house elves be seeing many strange things every day! Yesterday a suit of armor was hopping down the hall, and was leaving marks, and it was taking a long time to fix it."

"Ah, yes, but I mean with maybe something to do with sweets. Maybe someone found a horde of sweets, or noticed some missing?"

"Well we is missing some icing, Master Harry Potter!"

"Icing?"

"Oh yes! We is having a large mix of icing for cakes, but it is disappeared."

"Oh. But haven't you noticed anything with candy canes?"

"Oh no, Master Harry Potter, sir, I is sorry that we is not missing candy canes!" Dobby exclaimed, and promptly hit his head against the nearest table leg.

"No, Dobby, stop it!" This wasn't his intention. "You didn't do anything wrong, I was just wondering."

Dobby promptly stopped his self-inflicted bashing, and blinked up with tearful eyes. "Harry Potter is such a good wizard. A kind wizard…" it went on for some time before Harry was finally able to extricate himself, and put himself back to the task of figuring out what was going on.

Snape was acting the most questionably out of all the teachers, and Harry just couldn't ignore that. But still, it was unlikely that Snape would be the one stealing the candy canes. Snape couldn't have a use for them, unless he wanted to ruin everyone else's fun by stealing them all. But if that were the case, then he would have taken them all overnight instead of leaving most of them to be slowly enjoyed by the staff. And Snape didn't seem the type to over indulge on the great number of sweets which seemed to be missing…

But Snape _was_ acting strange, so naturally Harry should figure out _why, _and what Snape was up to.

Under his invisibility cloak, Harry started trailing Snape through the halls, footsteps falling silently as Snape glanced around himself suspiciously before heading in another direction, and then another.

Harry didn't discover anything useful that way, so he starting waiting outside the Great Hall _without_ his invisibility cloak, near the exit that Snape usually used. He waited to see if the Potions Professor would enter or exit with something he shouldn't have.

Snape started noticing him there, giving great big sneers at him as he passed.

Harry liked to think that perhaps he was making Snape nervous.

"Potter! What are you doing lolling around here?" Snape barked at him after the third day of stalking, and waiting in the entrance hall. "Go away!"

Well, if he wasn't making Snape nervous then he was definitely irritating the man. "I have every right to be here as you do, Professor Snape," Harry retorted smartly from where he was near the entrance doors, sitting on the base of a more benevolent statue. He felt very lucky that teachers couldn't take points, or give detentions during the holidays.

Snape just snorted, and turned to go into the Great Hall, apparently too mighty to bother dealing with Harry today.

Meanwhile, Harry wasn't finding anything on Snape, and he still hadn't figured out _who_ was stealing most of the candy. The trees were getting barer by the day, even the train seemed to have been victimized as the conductor was missing his hat, and the track seemed to make the train stutter at times.

Harry decided he needed to come up with a plan to catch this candy cane thief once and for all. He hated to think that Dumbledore _still_ thought that it was him!

But after lunch. They were supposed to be having Shepherd's pie and roast today.

After a satisfying lunch, Harry was in library under the annoyingly close watch of Pince from her desk, as he looked up tracking charms.

After about a couple of hours of awful research, he finally found what he needed in an old book. Triumphant, Harry copied out the incantation and wand movement. Now all he needed to do was cast the charm on the candy canes in the Great Hall when no one was around, and then cast the accompanying charm on a piece of parchment. Then he'd be able to know where the candy canes were going.

Harry spent that afternoon in the Great Hall, the time when it was mostly empty. He was trying to be insignificant and unnoticeable as he cast spells on every candy cane he saw.

He didn't get to all of them before the Hall filled for dinner, and then he had to wait until after everyone mostly left for the night to cast the rest of them. When he finished, and cast the accompanying tracking spell on a piece of blank parchment he felt proud and accomplished. He was going to find out who was taking those candy canes!

----

When he woke up in the morning in his bed in Gryffindor tower, the first thing he did was check the parchment. It didn't show that anything had been moved overnight. A little disappointed, Harry got up and got ready for the day.

After breakfast in the Great Hall, Harry took to wandering along the school corridors in hope that whoever was taking the candy canes would notice that he wasn't there watching today, and would make their move. It was nearly eleven o'clock in the morning, the time that Dumbledore usually took his morning hot chocolate, when Harry first noticed the tracking parchment change.

Two candy canes were moving- away from the hall! Harry barely contained a whoop of glee, and started running to the Entrance Hall in hopes of catching whoever it was.

Since he had been clear across the castle (wandering aimlessly will do that to you) he didn't make it in time to catch the thief, but he _was_ able to follow the tracking charm on the parchment. A candy cane shaped arrow lead him down to the dungeons (the dungeons, he _knew_ it), and through several passage ways before finding himself outside of _Snape's_ office.

Unbelievable. _Snape_ was the candy cane thief, and Dumbledore had thought that it was Harry!

Now all Harry needed was proof! He got the empty picture frame ready in case Snape answered his door while holding a candy cane, and got ready to knock. Was Snape home? He gathered his courage and knocked on the door, loudly.

No response.

He knocked again. Still nothing. Hmm. Maybe Snape was out? In which case, if Harry could sneak in, then he could take his evidence without having to see Snape at all! It sounded like a plan.

Harry got out his wand, and tried to think of which spell he would try first to open the door.

"Can I help you, Mr. Potter?" a sardonic voice asked behind him.

Startled, Harry turned and held the photo frame ready in case he caught Snape holding stolen goods right outside his office. A quick glance showed him that Snape was definitely _not_ carrying any candy canes in his hands for the school to see, and that no, there were not any smudges of chocolate on his face.

Booger jelly beans.

Harry could have kicked himself for thinking that Snape would ever be as dense as to give him proof by holding stolen sweets in his hands, right in front of him. After all, Snape had been very careful so far. Harry hadn't seen him nick as much as one sweet off of the trees or otherwise.

Great of Snape to catch him here trying to break in, Harry thought sarcastically. Couldn't he have been _in_ his office, or away until Harry finished doing what he needed to do?

Well, Snape was here now… Screwing up his courage, Harry decided to just go for it. He was already caught outside Snape's office, and there wasn't anything that Snape could do to him standing in the middle of a school corridor where any teacher or ghost could stroll by.

"Well?" Snape prompted, one eyebrow raised. His arms were folded across his chest, and one finger tapped on the arm of the other.

"Yes. Yes, in fact there is," Harry blustered, "My tracking spell says that all the missing candy canes are in your office. What are they doing there?!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Mr. Potter," Snape started pretentiously, "But I can assure you that accusing a teacher of stealing is against school conduct!"

"I know you have them, tracking charms don't lie!" Harry exclaimed, brandishing the parchment he had been using, waving it around like proof.

Snape leapt forward suddenly, and grabbed the parchment from Harry, almost giving him a paper cut in his ferocity.

"Hey!"

Snape turned slightly, and presumptuously looked at the parchment, keeping it out of Harry's reach. "This isn't a tracking charm, it's a drawing, badly done at that, of candy canes. I do not appreciate this prank," he spat out, and then with his wand in one hand and the parchment in the other, he incendio-ed it.

Harry's mouth dropped open at the audacity as the flames ate up his parchment greedily and Snape dropped the charred bit left over onto the floor. "You- you burned my tracking charm!"

"Be thankful that I do not burn you!" Snape snapped as he brandished his wand at Harry.

"Besides, it wasn't a tracking charm, it was just a bit of paper," Snape said disdainfully, before adopting a fraudulent innocence and pointing to the charred bits on the floor. "Would you like your ashes back?"

Harry just grated his teeth together and tried to not do anything that Snape might use as an excuse to hex him. "No thank you, I'll just be going now," he said, and walked purposefully away. He might have lost this round, but he wasn't going to give up!

"And don't come back," Snape snarled before disappearing into his office, slamming the door behind him.

His first try foiled, Harry was still determined to get proof that Snape was the one behind the Candy Cane heist. Unfortunately, Snape was turning out to be more difficult to get evidence on than Malfoy.

Harry would just have to be sneaky then.

He decided to hide under his invisibility cloak, and wait until after dinner for his daring plan. He would hide outside Snape's office under his invisibility cloak with the picture frame, and when Snape came back, he'd sneak into the office after him. It was the only way that he'd be able to capture a picture of Snape red handed. He needed the evidence. Dumbledore would never believe his word against a teacher's when he already thought that Harry was guilty. This was especially true if Harry were to blame Snape.

After eating dinner, Harry left the Great Hall as early as he could, saying that he had some Christmas thank you notes to write. Once out, he put on his invisibility cloak and made his way to Snape's office where he proceeded to sit, and wait for hours it seemed.

He supposed that since he wasn't in the Great Hall tonight, Snape was taking his time before leaving.

Harry was practically dozing off when he awoke suddenly, realizing that there was a quiet clacking of footsteps on the dungeon's stone floor.

Quickly, Harry sat up and then stood, ready for when Snape turned the corner. He would have to somehow sneak in the room after the Potions master without giving away his presence. It would be hard, and Harry fervently hoped that Snape wouldn't slam his door after himself. That could be painful.

Snape came down the hall, his eyes glancing around before he came to his office door where he did some sort of elaborate password while touching the knob. Then it was unlocked, opened, and Harry barely managed to dive through the doorway after Snape before the door slammed on his heels. It was ever so difficult to remain silent, and he was glad that he had had so much practice being silent under his invisibility cloak over the years.

But it seemed as if it hadn't been enough.

Snape took out his wand and did several revealo spells around the room, one directly at where Harry was.

Harry stood perfectly still, holding his breath, and praying that the spell wouldn't do anything to his invisibility cloak. He supposed nothing happened, because Snape put away his wand as if he hadn't just seen a Potter materialize out of thin air in his office.

The Potions master walked across the room, over to a table with what appeared to be a large box under a white sheet draped over it.

Snape did some sort of password unlocking charm before pulling off the sheet carefully. Then the box was lifted and then-

Harry almost died of laugher. Only the fact that it was _so_ hilarious that he couldn't move, couldn't breathe, _couldn't exhale_ saved him.

He had discovered the candy canes.

He had also discovered the icing the house elves lost.

Snape…

…was making a ginger bread house!

The ginger bread house was painted with white icing, and covered with sweets. Gumdrops ran across the roof, a chimney was created out of glazed nuts. The windows were formed out of small hard candies, and pretzels and peppermint patties adorned the outside walls. Sugar icicles hung down from underneath the roof, and lollipops stood up like trees.

There even was a marshmallow snowman standing up outside the small house in the front garden. Its face was smiling as it held a glazed cherry in one pretzel stick arm, and stood upon a trodden red licorice elf. Harry didn't want to think of what the cherry was supposed to be.

And the whole thing was surrounded by a _candy cane_ fence.

As Harry held his hand over his mouth and nose to stop his laughter and almost asphyxiated, Snape pulled out two more candy canes from a coat pocket, and placed them at the head of the large fence of candy canes, creating a crossed gate.

Then, to Harry's utter amusement, Snape pulled out two little gingerbread children from his coat pocket, and placed them standing up in front of the house, leaning against small stacks of gumdrops. The little cookie children smiled up at Snape, and the mental image of Snape smiling back completely destroyed whatever semblance of control Harry had.

He snorted. Loudly. Then he lost it and howled with laughter, falling down into a puddle on the floor under his invisibility cloak.

He lay there, desperately trying to get his invisibility cloak off and into a pocket so Snape couldn't take it while he was almost incapacitated and dying from laughter.

Fortunately, Snape was completely shocked at Harry's sudden appearance, and didn't try to beat him with a pretzel stick. Or a candy cane! Ha!

Harry couldn't. Stop. Laughing! He knew that he would pay for it later, but he just couldn't stop.

"Potter!" Snape raged as Harry got the invisibility cloak off just enough that he could scramble for the door.

"Accio cloak!" Harry's cloak flew back, and he nearly groaned between his uncontrollable chuckles, holding himself up against the nearest bookcase.

"Hah!" Breathe. "Give me, Hahah, cloak back, Snape!" Harry panted out while trying to get his hilarity under control. Facing an enraged Snape while laughing was not the best way to ensure escaping alive. Harry wrapped one arm around his chest, both to hold a stitch, and to try and keep himself from laughing.

Snape looked like he couldn't decide whether to be more embarrassed or angry. His jaw ground together, a muscle in his cheek twitched, and then, "Potter, I propose an agreement, the cloak for your silence."

Harry breathed a few more times, trying to get himself under control. He really needed his cloak, it was the only thing he had of his father's, and it was an irreplaceable tool for going about undetected.

But was it worth his silence about Snape making a gingerbread house? It was a shame to lose such a hilarious piece of knowledge, but Harry thought the exchange was fair. "Alright," gasp, "I won't tell anyone about your gingerbread house," Harry agreed, still having difficulty controlling his amusement.

"Your word's not good enough," Snape intoned seriously, "A wizard's oath!"

"Okay, how do I do that?" Harry asked.

Snape looked at him as if he had managed to put his shoes on the wrong feet, which was a customary enough look from Snape, but not usually this intense. "Don't try my patience Potter. Your Wizard's Oath or I'll just keep this," he said, holding the invisibility cloak closer, "And I'll try an Obliviate."

"No! I mean- I'll do it," Harry bargained, "I just don't know how exactly."

"You really don't know?" Snape asked, suddenly interested.

Harry could see the spark of calculation in Snape's eyes, and knew that professing his ignorance wasn't the smartest thing he'd ever done. "No, but I'll only do it if you do it too."

The spark dimmed. "Alright then, Potter," Snape said as he went to his desk, and pulled out a piece of parchment and what looked like a penknife. "Swear with a drop of blood, and then a spell." He handed the knife to Harry, and waited.

Harry brought the knife up to his finger, but paused.

"Repeat," Snape intoned, "I solemnly swear not to impart the information that Professor Severus Snape has been creating a ginger bread house, in any way, shape or form."

"No, you have to do it too," Harry insisted, "I want to make sure I'll get my cloak back."

With a disgruntled air, Snape pulled out a second knife, pricked his finger, and placed it on the parchment.

He droned, "I solemnly sweat to release the Invisibility cloak in my possession to one Harry James Potter should the prerequisite be met that he swear to tell no one of the knowledge that I have been creating a ginger bread house, in any way, shape or form." Snape then removed his finger, and looked pointedly at Harry.

Feeling emboldened, Harry quickly pricked his finger and placed it on the parchment. He tried to repeat what Snape had told him to say. He didn't think that he had it verbatim, but Snape seemed to accept it.

Snape waved his wand, and said something that Harry thought meant "I promised" in Latin, and Harry did the same, repeating the same phrase.

"Alright, give me my cloak back now," Harry demanded as he held out his hand.

Snape gave an angry sneer, but he turned over the cloak to Harry, and unlocked the door with a flick of his wand.

"I promised not to say anything about- about that," Harry said as he took the cloak, and walked towards the door. "But I didn't promise not to say anything about the candy canes!" he yelled gleefully as he tore out of the room.

The End!


End file.
